# Dust of Snow explained — New Hampshire

> Chapter companion for New Hampshire by Robert Frost.

## What happens

A brief encounter with a crow shaking snow from a hemlock tree alters the speaker's mood, transforming a day of regret into one of redemption.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nature and Transience

The crow and hemlock tree, often symbols of ill omen, become agents of a fleeting but transformative moment, highlighting nature's power to shift human emotion.

### Perception and Truth

The speaker's initial mood of regret is overturned by a simple natural event, suggesting that perception of a day or moment can be changed by unexpected small occurrences.

## Key lines

> The way a crow / Shook down on me / The dust of snow / From a hemlock tree

A crow, perched in a hemlock tree, shook a small amount of snow down onto me.

_Describes the simple, sudden action that triggers the speaker's change in mood._

> Has given my heart / A change of mood / And saved some part / Of a day I had rued.

This event lifted my spirits and redeemed a portion of a day I had been regretting.

_Reveals the emotional impact of the encounter, turning a day of sorrow into one with a saving grace._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/dust-of-snow
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/new_hampshire_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters